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The Liver

What is the liver?

The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body and performs a number of metabolic functions that are essential to human life.

The liver sits in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen near the stomach and gall bladder, and below the heart and lungs. It is the second largest organ in the human body. Only the skin, which is considered to be an organ, is larger. The liver is the largest gland in the body.

In a normal adult, the he liver weighs about 1.5 kilograms grams or 3-4 pounds. It is wedge-shaped and generally speaking, it accounts for about 2 percent of the body mass of adults.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2009) — Poor aerobic fitness is strongly associated with obesity and its consequent risks of heart disease, strokes and diabetes – now considered worldwide epidemics. But the underlying link has long puzzled scientists. New research in The Journal of Physiology connects low aerobic capacity to another serious condition – non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) – and suggests that the resulting liver problems play a crucial step developing obesity-related illnesses.